37-year-old Amiga platform gets updates to Linux kernel, AmigaOS SDK

The last commercial Amiga computer available for sale was AmigaOne X5000PowerPC-based revival machine released in 2017 The Amiga platform itself is 37 years oldbut you better believe they are Amiga fans the latest Linux kernel, 6.0, up and running on newer Amiga machines. The first real PC for creatives has a special group.

On the forums from Amiga OS developer Hyperion Entertainment, user Christian, aka xeno74, has announced the availability of the final 6.0 kernel for AmigaOne X5000 and X1000 machines. The announcement contained the necessary images of 3D games such as Cro-Mag Rally and Otto Mattic, along with system profile images to check for an updated kernel. Work has already begun on alpha versions of the 6.1 kernel further down the thread.

In itself, “Linux is available on unusual hardware” may not be that surprising, but there are other encouraging developments in the Amiga domain worth noting.

Hyperion announced the release of a “very significant and comprehensive update”. SDK for AmigaOS 4.1 54.16, for those who prefer to keep the main Amiga look and feel on their system. The update includes new options for gcc compilation, Simplegit and Subversion control tools, and general updates to many tools.

It’s also worth noting that “The Biggest Amiga Event” was repeated this past weekend for the first time since the pandemic. conference, Amiga37, held in Monchengladbach, Germany, featured nearly 50 exhibitors, lectures, awards, and a performance by “The Fastloaders.” The conference website helpfully noted that the venue was “right next to ALDI SÜD.”

The Amiga is unlikely to see a mainstream audience again, but the energy of its fans is encouraging and perhaps a lesson for modern systems. As Jeremy Reimer wrote on the start of his 12-part history of the Amigathe people who give their time and energy to a system whose parent company went bankrupt in the late 1990s do so for a reason:

The Amiga computer was a dream form factor: a cheap, fast, flexible multimedia computer that could do almost anything. It handled graphics, sound, and video as easily as other computers of the time manipulated plain text. It was easily ten years ahead of its time. It was everything its designers imagined it could be, except for one key problem: the world was essentially unaware of its existence. …

To many people, the efforts (of modern development) seem futile, even stupid. But to those who understand, who were there and lived through the Amiga at its peak, they don’t seem stupid at all.

Hats off to Slashdot for noting this convergence of recent Amiga-dom.